Villa in Sax with All Year Round Swimming Pool and 2 horse stables.

What a fabulous opportunity this is and what a great price at only 249,999€

In a superb location on the Pena Rubia side of Sax the property has complete privacy and is so tranquil yet there is a neighbour to one side and two across the road but set right back. The access is by tarmac roads apart from the last 200 metres which is a flat but dusty track.

Remote-controlled gates lead you into a separate car parking area with space for three cars under cover and many more uncovered. A separate sliding gate offers another pedestrian and car access directly to the side of the property.

The gardens were planned for low maintenance and there are plenty of naturally shaded areas for relaxing and keeping cool in the heat of the summer and also to dine in the open from the BBQ.

At the very rear of the property are two stables as the owners used to keep horses, they are not in poor condition but they haven´t been used for a long time and need updating.

All around the villa are grassy areas and just 10 metres from the front door is the extraordinary 9 x 5 fully covered private swimming pool. We took the property on in December and I was amazed at how the sun had already heated the pool water at 11:00am so it really has all year round swimming available and needs very little maintenance.

The Villa itself is lovely and there are three entrances. The main entrance has a super little covered patio area with sufficient room for a table and chairs and then you have the outstanding and very traditional and high-quality wooden front door that can be opened as a whole or in two parts, the workmanship is to be admired and that goes for so much of the features of the property, it is easy to see the quality of the build and there is not a single blemish we could see.

The hallway is so big that it doubles up as a separate dining room and from there, you have access to two double bedrooms and two bathrooms. A small hallway from there takes you through to a third bedroom which is being used as an office and store room.

The lounge/diner is a beautiful long but not narrow room and like all the rooms has lots of natural light. There is a feature log-burning fireplace and also a new Air Conditioning Unit. The property has three units in total and two are new.

The kitchen is surprisingly bigger than most traditional Spanish kitchens and is fully fitted with a pantry as well.

In the grounds is a decent Casita with a third bathroom and as there is a water and electricity connection it can be made into a Guest House by a builder at a cost of around 20,000€ Alternatively, if you can do the work yourself there is a massive saving to be made.

Other features:-

· Air Conditioning

· Temperature Controlled Central Heating

· Stylish wooden framed double-glazed windows

· Solar power with nine panels

· Mains water and Electricity

· 325€ per year Rates

· 200€ per year Water

Why Sax?

There are no traffic lights, it has a 13th-century castle and there are no traffic wardens but there are streets full of restaurants, bars and cafes. What? That isn´t enough?

Sax is so popular because it is far enough inland to be “inland” yet it is only 30 minutes to Alicante Airport and 35 minutes to the beach. Access is by the A31 Dual Carriageway Alicante to Madrid road which runs just outside of the town, by rail and coach from Alicante so you can go to the beach and not have to take your car, and now we are only five minutes away from the AVE station at Villena. The AVE is the high-speed train from Alicante to Madrid which has only four stops and we are five minutes away from a station that on boarding will have you in Madrid in 2hrs 9mins for as little as 25€.

Let us stick with the town of Sax for now rather than escaping to the beach or the capital city of Spain. Sax is dominated by its 13th-century castle known as the Headlight and Guardian of The Border a landscape of history and rock. When driving back home to Sax after daylight the sight of the castle, fully lit, and seemingly floating in the air is one of the most welcoming sights I have ever experienced.

Commercially, Sax was only affected in a minor way by the economic crash as it is the home of three major international businesses selling “persianas y toldos”, window blinds and sun canopies and a shoe industry that means if you recently bought a pair of shoes in a department store in the UK, for example, the chances are they could have been made in Sax or nearby Elda.

Recently we have seen the opening of a Consum supermarket, the equivalent of a Waitrose or Marks & Spencer Food Hall whilst there has been a Hiperber and Mas y Mas, both excellent supermarkets for as long as I can remember, and if that isn´t enough there is a Carrefour (Think Tesco) eight minutes’ drive away within a shopping mall complex that has two cinemas one of which is showing films in English with Spanish subtitles.

Sax is served wonderfully well with schools, our son was eight when we moved here and reluctantly, we put him into a state school, he always went to a private school in Manchester, and within six months he was fluent in two languages and following five years in a secondary school went on to study Pharmacy at Complutense in Madrid one of Spain´s most famous and prestigious universities.

Crime rate; Sax has full employment and subsequently a very low crime rate. It is a small town where everyone knows each other and a Spanish family would normally feel shamed if a member was in trouble with the police. Their modern values are the ones we experienced growing up in the UK 50-60 years ago.

I parked rather stupidly recently on the Hight Street (Gran Via) even by Spanish standards I was naughty as I popped into the bank. I received a phone call within 90 seconds from the Local Police who called me a “dickhead”, well the Spanish equivalent, no ticket no fine just a little humiliation.

For health, Sax and Spain, in general, is far superior to the UK. In the town, we have a brand-new Health Centre with eight doctors, two nurses, diabetes clinics and a 24/7 Emergency Walk/In Centre. Ten minutes away in Elda is the remarkable award-winning University Hospital El Virgen De Salud where the surgeons are second to none and the food is atrocious, well it can’t all be good!! Newly opened is the Fibromyalgia centre offering support and therapies for those suffering from acute pain.

There are now four Language Schools in the town and the town hall ran a scheme for language swapping that well may be run again. Learning Spanish is a lot less difficult than it may seem and there are new ways of learning that concentrate on Spanish conversation.

There are restaurants and bars aplenty with prices that are at first beyond belief and a three or four-course lunch of good quality can easily be found for 12€ or less. For a special occasion, there is La Torreta but also there are great option such as La Braseria, Camila and La Senda. Coffee and toast for breakfast will cost no more than 2€ and the coffee is possibly the best in Europe.

We have a Walking Group, two Golfing Societies, Ladies Who Lunch and probably lots more Social Activities to enjoy. Sax, it´s a great place to live.